Melodia; Looking for Another World
by Aera
Summary: A long and complicated sequel to FF9 ...


**ARGH! *kills self* I REALLY want to finish this Fic, I actually want it to be really long ... its just I don't have the time! Damned coursework ... I'll update with a new chapter about once or twice a week, so please be patient ...?**

_Looking for another world? I don't think we should ... I don't think salvation lies there._

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
MELODIA; LOOKING FOR ANOTHER WORLD - Part I  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpublished work Copyright (c) Antoinette Samson-Dampier aka Aera, Shiva.

Final Fantasy IX is Copyright (c) Squaresoft and was in no way created by me.

My sincere apologies to all of you who find my writing offensive, inappropriate, confusing or spoiling. I will do my best to explain everything clearly, but the plot is very complicated. Try to stay with me, okay? Comments/Suggestions gladly welcomed, [aeratonette@hotmail.com][1]. Or you can just review it.

Currently, I am hoping this Fic will have 6 Parts, each containing (hopefully) 10 Chapters. Which makes 60 Chapters. So don't kill me if this gets REALLY long ...

Another thing ... I REALLY hate Amarant. Sorry, I do. So he's not mentioned AT ALL in this Fic ... okay?

Rated: PG-13, Strong Language  
Started: 3.4.01  
Status: Unfinished

"......." -- Speech  
"(.....)" -- Thoughts  
"..." -- Telepathic Communication

Chapter -- [I][2] -- [II][3] -- [III][4] --

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
CHAPTER I - Paranoia  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dagger sighed as she stared over the water surrounding the grand castle of Alexandria which she inhabited. It was sunset on the last day of June, and never before had she seen so many colours in the sky, the glowing red of the sun fanned out to the silver black of the sky.

Behind her, silently, watching her silky black hair float on the evening breeze, thinking about how incredibly beautiful his new wife was, stood Zidane. He was sighing inside, though his was of happiness and contentment, whilst Dagger sighed out of boredom and anxiousness.

Inwardly, she wished her quest with Zidane and her friends had never ended. What was to become of her now? Would she be trapped in the castle for the rest of her life, living out every day the same as the previous one? As much as Dagger hated to admit it to herself, it was a possibility.

She inhaled the sweet perfume of the night air, for now it was dark, and began to sing sweetly. "... In your dearest memories ... do you remember loving me? ... was it fate ... that brought us close and now leaves me be-"

A slight noise behind Dagger interrupted her singing, and she spun around. Zidane was walking towards her, his arms outstretched, muttering words of comfort. She fell instantly into his arms and shed tears unto the clothes on his shoulder.

"You only sing that when you're feeling alone or frightened," whispered Zidane into her left ear. "Dagger there's nothing to be frightened of."

She nodded and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. "There is," she choked, falling helplessly onto him. "I miss them, Zidane ... I just want us all to be together again."

He held her close and stared thoughtfully up at the moon, patting the black hair on the top of Dagger's head. He agreed whole-heartedly, after the official wedding, everyone had left to return to their normal lives.

"I know," he murmured. "There's nothing I want more too. Except you."

Dagger slowly edged away and leaned over the balcony railings, staring at the reflection of the silver moon in the lake that separated the city from the castle.

"Its not just that," she said shakily, her eyes growing wide. "I've been having the strangest visions since the defeat of the enemy of Gaia."

Confused, Zidane walked to where she stood and placed a gloved hand on her bare shoulder. She quailed under his touch.

"Dagger ... why didn't you tell me sooner? Don't you trust me?"

She shook her head and a tear fell across her blushing cheek. "I have always trusted you, Zidane," she wept. "I do now and I will for all eternity."

"So why? Why didn't you tell me?" he held her close and stared into her innocent brown eyes.

She slipped out of his grip and stared at the reflection of the silver moon upon the lake separating the castle from the city. "Because ..." she said, quietly. "Because I often have the feeling that we are being watched."

He attempted a dismissal of the thought immediately from his mind, not wanting to think about it, but unknowingly failed to do so.

Dagger sighed. "I know, it does sound rather insane, but as a Summoner, even without my horn I am supposed to have a heightened sense of awareness ... thought maybe I'm just feeling paranoid. It is a possibility that the stressfulness of being Queen is finally getting to me ..."

Not knowing how to answer this, Zidane tactfully replied, "Its the night of our Anniversary, Dagger, Let's leave any negative thoughts until the morning."

She sighed again. "Yes, I will," she said in agreeance. "Let us retire to bed ... I mean, let's go."

Zidane wrapped an arm around her, grinning from ear to ear. Still she insisted on speaking like a commoner and he had to admit, she was improving.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
CHAPTER II - Isolation  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The copper-haired Bounty Huntress snored softly in her sleep in Eiko's old bedroom at Madain Sari, still in ruins. Occasionally a calming breeze would float through the holes in the walls Eiko called 'windows' and she'd groan slightly and roll over on one of her sides.

A slight rustling amongst the pebbles in Eiko's house was enough to awaken Lani. She was wide awake almost immediately and sat up straight, staring suspiciously around.

Four cream-coloured moogles lay peacefully in a huddle at the foot of the twenty year-old woman's 'bed', sleeping silently. Besides the slight motion of their stomachs as the inhaled and exhaled, nothing around her was moving. Still, Lani had a gut-feeling that someone was watching her ...

Daring not to awaken the four moogles, Moshi, Mallie, Mixi and Muma, as each were very disgruntled early in the morning, she stood up noiselessly and tip-toed towards the hole in the wall that led to the harbour.

The battered boat the Princess had once sailed in with her mother was docked there. Lani climbed along the seaweed-covered pier and stepped daintily into the boat. It rocked from side to side under her weight, sending ever-growing ripples across the calm sea water. She examined the sail, a rag of white cotton with many holes in it and decided that there would be no point to put it up. Instead, she tightly gripped the two sea-worthy oars that hung from the edges of the boat and began to row out to sea, towards the red moonlight.

She often did this when she felt she was unsafe, or needed to think. Unintentionally, she hummed the song she'd once heard Eiko and Garnet sing as she continued to row until she'd lost all sight of land. Only now did she begin to ponder upon her worries.

It had been a year since Lani had last come into social contact with humans. She'd returned to Alexandria with Amarant to witness Garnet and Zidane's wedding, and left just days later. Everyone had gone their own separate ways and she was sure they were all happy and content, unlike herself.

The moogles had helped her realise the most important things in life, about love and truth. Wasn't that enough? Why did she feel she had to remain in the village? Perhaps to repay the moogles for their lesson, or perhaps to learn more about life and about herself ...

Now, she wanted nothing more than to be miles from the moogle-inhabited ruins and with her 'friends', if she dared call them that. Lani had been so pleased when Zidane and his 'gang' had forgiven her for what she'd attempted to do. She felt that if she couldn't be in their company, there was no clear point in being forgiven.

Her thoughts and her humming were interrupted by the same paranoid feeling, that someone was watching her every move, reading her mind ... It was impossible. There was nothing around her for miles but water and in the clear sky only the two moons were visible.

Lani was scared, an emotion she very rarely felt. She was not scared of any Gaian Being, but what she sensed was supernatural, something Lani didn't ever care to deal with ...

"W-Who's there!" stammered Lani, doing her best to sound brave. "Show your face! Or do you deem to be unworthy?"

There was silence once more, and the feeling had gone again. Lani, still feeling frightened, picked up the oars and rowed hastily back to Madain Sari.

"I ... can't ... take ... any ...more," puffed Lani, heaving on the oars. "I'm going to go and find them. Isolation is enough to drive anyone mental."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
CHAPTER III - Incomplete  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a feeling Eiko Carol had never felt before. Everyone she'd ever known and cared about had died before she even reached the age of four. Her mother, her father, her friends had all died because of Garland's fear of the Eidolons ... and her Grandpa was killed by a Silver Dragon ...

She'd promised her him on his deathbed that she wouldn't leave the ruined village until she was sixteen, and she wasn't even half that age. Every time she thought of him she'd be overwhelmed with guilt, which she tried to balance with excuses.

"Zidane told me to ..."

"It was so boring, and I wasn't becoming any better at Summoning ..."

"Sixteen years is a long time, Grandpa ..."

Still, she tried not to think about him. It hurt too much, thinking of the past. Sitting beside her bedroom window, in the highest tower of Lindblum Castle, she turned her thoughts to the present.

An entire year had passed since she'd been adopted by Regent Cid and Lady Hilda, a year since she became Princess Eiko. For the first time in her life, she truly felt as though she was home. She felt no need to be independent, she no longer needed to care for herself. Others cared for her.

And yet, there was something missing. Something the purple-haired seven year-old couldn't quite place her hand on. She'd loved her time with Zidane and the others, fighting alongside them to save all of Gaia, but she didn't want to return to that life ... did she?

She'd never really thought about it in-depth before. Sure, she missed all her friends, but she was only seven years old. Zidane had told her to be herself, and what she was a small child. She wanted to be able to depend on others.

Eiko hadn't a home when she was traveling with Zidane. That was all that kept her from being complete ... and now she had a home, the fact that Zidane wasn't with her made her still incomplete. She had to choose between two lives, two almost perfect lives ... she had to decide which was more important. It was almost impossible.

The child's thoughts were interrupted by a loud knocking on the door and cries of 'Kupo! Eiko! Kupo!"

"... Atli? What's wrong!" she ran to open the door.

A purple moogle with a large red 'bon-bon-looking-thing' stumbled into the room, panting. "Eiko ... your mother ... and father ... are in ... trouble!"

"Mother? Father? Atli, tell me what's happened!" cried Eiko earnestly, picking up the exhausted moogle and stroking her stomach softly to help her breathe. "Atli, please!"

Atli shook her head weakly. "... Just go. You will see."

The moogle fainted in the young girl's arms, and Eiko laid her down on the silken pillows of her bed, before hurrying down the spiraling stairs to the throne room.

As she continued running around and down, not only did she become extremely more dizzy and tired, but screams and yells could be heard below. "Hold on Mother and Father!" shouted Eiko. "I'm coming to help you!"

**To be continued ...**

   [1]: mailto:aeratonette@hotmail.com
   [2]: #I
   [3]: #II
   [4]: #III



End file.
